Description
When the English arrived in Powhatan territory in the early 1600s, several decades of violent conflict ensued with the Anglo-Powhatan Wars lasting from 1610 to 1646. In this period of time the English displaced the Nansemond from our ancestral land around the Nansemond River into surrounding areas. Members of the Nansemond tribal community reacted differently to the upheaval which caused a schism in the tribe. Some families assimilated to an English lifestyle while others adhered to a traditional lifestyle. The Nansemond are the Indigenous people of the Nansemond River, a 20-mile-long tributary of the James River in Virginia.
Language
The Nansemond language is believed to have been Algonquian
Culture
Nansemond people lived in settlements on both sides of the Nansemond River where they fished (with the name "Nansemond" meaning "fishing point" in Algonquian), harvested oysters, hunted, and farmed in fertile soil. Today, Nansemond people belong to the federally recognized Nansemond Indian Nation. The Nansemonds were farmers, they ate grains and corn and also gathered nuts and berries. In addition to being fishermen and shellfish choices, they hunted bear, deer and other wild animals. They never wasted any part of an animal and used its skin for covering or clothing, bones as gardening tools, its antlers as weapons and its muscles and sinews as string.